Sunday, December 29, 2013

As 2013 comes to a close, it’s always fun to look back on
what I partook in.I keep a pretty
thorough calendar, so the following is culled from glancing through my records
of the past 12 months (this is what consumes time on a boring flight across the
country).Here’s a sampling of
what I was involved with this year…

WORK (It’s not so
much a job as it is “a calling”):

10,051 needy third world children sponsored through 29 radio
campaigns our

Radio
Department at Compassion International organized

Represents approximately $23.1 million over the next 5 years
for good health, education,

nutrition,
clothing, Spiritual encouragement, and opportunities for these kids

6 radio marathons hosted in different cities

7 additional radio interviews regarding Compassion’s
outreach

4 conventions/retreats

4 overseas trips where I was group leader: Ethiopia, Haiti, Colombia,
and Guatemala

Sunday, December 22, 2013

I remember coming back from a very long tour.I hadn’t been at home for months.Got home for Christmas, very excited of
being in Dublin.Dublin at
Christmas is cold, but it’s lit up, it’s like a Carnival in the cold.

On Christmas Eve, I went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.I had done school there for a
year.It’s where Jonathan Swift
was Dean.Anyway, some of my
Church of Ireland friends were going.It’s kind of a tradition on Christmas Eve to go, but I’d never
been.I went to this place,
sat.I was given a really bad
seat, behind one of the huge pillars.I couldn’t see anything.I
was sitting there, having come back from Tokyo or somewhere like that.I went for the singing, because I love
choral singing.Community arts, a
specialty!But I was falling asleep,
being up for a few days, traveling, because it was a bit boring, the service,
and I just started nodding off since I couldn’t see a thing.

Then I started to try and keep myself awake studying what
was on the page.It dawned on me
for the first time, really.It had
dawned on me before, but it really sank in: the Christmas story.The idea that God, if there is a force
of Love and Logic in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is
amazing enough.That it would seek
to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in poverty, in
shit and straw…a child…I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry…unknowable love,
unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable.There it was.

I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me
before, but tears came down my face, and I saw the genius of this, the utter
genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this. You
see, love needs to find form, intimacy needs to be whispered.To me, it makes sense.It’s actually logical.It’s pure logic.Essence has to manifest itself.It’s inevitable.Love has to become an action or something
concrete.It would have to
happen.There must be an
incarnation.Love must be made
flesh.

My understanding of the Scriptures has been made simple by
the person of Christ.Christ
taught that God is love.What does
that mean?What it means for me: a
study of the life of Christ.Love
here describes itself as a child born in raw poverty, the most vulnerable
situation of all, without honor.I
don’t let my religious world get too complicated.I just kind of go: Well, I think I know what God is.God is love, and as much as I respond
in allowing myself to be transformed by that love and acting in that love,
that’s my religion.Where things
get complicated for me, is when I try to live this love.Now, that’s not easy.

There’s nothing hippie about my picture of Christ.The Gospels paint a picture of a very
demanding, sometimes divisive love, but love it is.I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie:
blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass
murder, adultery.The children of
God are running amok, wayward.Maybe that’s why they’re so relatable.

But the way we would see it, those of us who are trying to
figure out our Christian conundrum, is that the God of the Old Testament is
like the journey from stern father to friend.When you’re a child, you need clear directions and some
strict rules.But with Christ, we
have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was
more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship.The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at
Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.

It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the
Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the
thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma. I
really believe we have moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace.

You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of
Karma.You know, what you put out
comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in
physical laws—every action is met by an equal or opposite one.It’s clear to me that Karma is at the
very heart of the Universe.I’m
absolutely sure of it.

And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all
that “As you reap, so will you sow” stuff.Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like,
the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed,
because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge.I’d be in deep shit.It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m
holding out for Grace.I’m holding
out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope
I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

I’ve always been fascinated with architecture and central
city layouts.As a youngster, I
spent many a Saturday wandering around downtown Columbus, OH taking notes and
sketching various structures.I
enjoyed the classic lines of the white limestone State Capitol, but was equally
enticed by new highrise bank buildings, and urban renewal tracts.I read Architecture Digest, and would
work for hours on my own designs for public and private sector buildings,
boulevards, parks, and stadia.

Hence, I considered myself a bit of an amateur city planner, taking note of new projects and plans in whatever metropolis I
have lived in.Being a proud
citizen of Nashville for a quarter century now, I have watched as our downtown
area has made some significant changes.

In the 80s into the early 90s we saw the initial Nashville
Convention Center, the Fifth Third Center and US Bank towers, Renaissance
Hotel, Double Tree Hotel, James K. Polk Bldg. (including Tennessee Performing
Arts Center), One Nashville Place, Nashville City Center, two state office
buildings along James Robertson Parkway, and the Church Street Shopping Mall
built.

The true boom really began around 1994.In the past eighteen years or so, there
has been a remarkable expansion that has rendered photos of the downtown area
before that era nearly unrecognizable.Consider all these changes:

·Bridgestone Arena. 18,500 capacity. Home of
Nashville Predators NHL hockey team and 100 other concerts/events per year.

·LP Field. 70,000 capacity. Home of Tennessee
Titans NFL team.

·Bicentennial Mall State Park

·Downtown Library (built on the site of the
former Church Street Mall)

·Numerous other smaller apartment/condo buildings
and remodels in The Gulch

·Broadway revitalization with many new
restaurants and shops

·2nd Avenue revitalization

·Rutledge Hill revitalization

·Marathon Village revitalization

·Germantown revitalization

As impressive as all of that is, consider that in the next
five years, downtown Nashville will see the most construction in its history
that will radically change the look, feel, and function of the city…

·NCC Site Tower. 28 stories. 380 ft. tall.Corner of Broadway and 5th
Avenue (site of old convention center).Mix of offices, condos, entertainment, restaurants.Also will include African American
Music Museum, and House of Blues Club.

Beyond these that are in the formal planning stage, I also
see further changes on the immediate horizon:

·Several more major hotels in the blocks
immediately around the Music City Center, especially along KVB and around the 8th
Ave/KVB/Lafayette St. Roundabout.

·SoBro, especially along First Avenue opposite of
the new Riverfront Amphitheater, and on the three other corners at KVB should
have major structures in place by 2020.

·The East Bank of the Cumberland River should
also finally see relocation of the scrap metal recycling plant, opening up a
huge 500 acre area for housing, retail, and entertainment which could include a
boat marina, continuation of Cumberland River Park, big box retail outfits like
Ikea, condominiums, restaurant park, cycling velodrome, etc.

·The large 200 acre tract at corner of Charlotte
Ave. and I-40/65 has now been completely cleared.Something large is going to be announced soon.Could it be a massive complex for HCA?Could it be The Gulch North? One thing
is certain, it is valuable property with great access, and it will end up
having as much impact on the northwest side of downtown as the Gulch did for
the southwest sector.

·Jefferson Street corridor revitalization brought
on by Sulpher Dell Ballpark, apartments, and new Tennessee State Library and
Museum.

Additionally, just outside the inner-belt that surrounds
downtown, there are numerous other neighborhoods that will see continued
development:

·Midtown (just west of downtown along Broadway
and West End Ave.) as had a spike of construction in the past decade.That will continue with the Summit
Center (featuring 24 and 18 story towers and garages), the 19 story tall 1505
Demonbreun Apartments, The Buckingham Complex (14 story hotel, 18 story condo,
10 story offices at 21st Ave. and Broadway), more mid-size and small
hotels, and high end restaurants.

·8th Avenue South and 12 South will
continue adding more condos, apartments, retail and restaurants, along with the
continued housing boom (remodels and rebuilds)

·East Nashville’s Main/Woodland Corridor leading
out to Five Points. More condos and apartments, retail, restaurants, churches,
and continued housing boom (remodels and rebuilds).

·Metro Center continues its decades long growth
with more corporate headquarters,auto sales/service, education elements, and entertainment.

·Fisk Univ./Meharry Hospital area along Jefferson
Street will continue its revitalization with more apartments, retail, and
entertainment, and housing remodels and rebuilds.

·The J. Henry Hale Housing Development 10 square
blocks along the western edge of I-64/40 and Charlotte Ave. will continue to
grow, bringing in more retail and businesses.

·Belmont University shows no signs of slowing
down, and could become Nashville’s largest university (jumping past Vandy)
within a few years.This means
continued purchasing in area neighborhoods and constructing additional educationaland service structures, as well as even
more dormitories.

·Vanderbilt is not finished either.Both on the collegiate and medical
center sides.

·Travecca University is also growing, but not at
quite the same pace.A few new
structures will be built there.

Other areas in the center city that will see significant
attention in the next 5 years:

·Greer Stadium Site (soon to be former home of
the minor league baseball team). Could become part of a Civil War Museum
complex to go along with the recently renovated Fort Negly on the hill
immediately next to it.Some think
it may become a high tech business park.Others think it could be trendy housing for the arts district that is
developing a few blocks away.

·Old State Fairgrounds site.This has been debated for the past
decade.But movement will finally
happen within the next half decade.My guess is that it will be a mixed use site of high tech, condos, apartments,
and some retail/restaurant.

·North Cumberland stretch along the river from
Woodland Ave. up to Spring St.This is all industrial warehousing now, but the views of downtown are
spectacular along here, and I see some high rise condos, apartments, and other
upgrades in the not-to-distant future.Perhaps even a major league baseball stadium in the next ten to fifteen
years?

All in all, in the next half-decade there are going to be
more construction cranes, cement trucks, road detours, and hardhats within a
two mile radius of The Ryman than Music City has ever seen before. Some may
bemoan it, but I, for one, am very bullish on what all this means for our city
and its future.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

This is one of my most
choice excerpts from Yann Martel’s novel, The Life of Pi. Twelve-year-old
Piscine, or “Pi” for short, was raised Hindu by his mother, but also trained to
have a skeptical mind by his atheist father. This sequence takes place while he
and his family are on vacation in the northern part of India. His older brother
dares him to enter a small Catholic cathedral…which no one in their family had
ever done before.

I dared to enter the church.My stomach was in knots.I was terrified I would meet a Christian who would shout at
me, “What are you doing here? How dare you enter this sacred place, you
defiler!Get out, right now!”

There was no one.And little to be understood. I advanced and observed the inner
sanctum.There was a painting. Was
this the murti? Something about a human sacrifice. An angry god who had to be
appeased with blood.Dazed women
staring up in the air and fat babies with tiny wings flying about. A
charismatic bird.Which one was
the god?To the side of the
sanctum was a painted wooden sculpture.The victim again, bruised and bleeding in bold colors.I stared at his knees.They were badly scraped. The pink skin
was peeled back and looked like the petals of a flower, revealing kneecaps that
were fire-engine red.It was hard
to connect this torture with the peaceful priest I had seen from a distance in
the rectory the day before.

Catholics have a reputation for severity, for judgment that
comes down heavily. My experience with Father Martin was not like that. He was
very kind.He served me tea and
biscuits in a tea set that tinkled and rattled at every touch; he treated me
like a grown-up; and he told me a story.Or rather, since Christians are so fond of capital letters, a Story.

And what a story. The first thing that drew me in was
disbelief.What? Humanity sins but
its God’s Son who pays the price? I tried to imagine Father saying to me,
“Piscine, a lion slipped into the llama pen today and killed two llamas.Yesterday another one killed a black
buck.Last week to of them ate the
camel.The week before it was
painted storks and grey herons.And who’s to say for sure who snacked on the golden agouti? The
situation has become intolerable. Something must be done.I have decided that the only way the
lions can atone for their sins is if I feed you to them.”

“Yes, Father, that would be the right and logical thing to
do.Give me a moment to wash up.”

“Hallelujah, my son.”

“Hallelujah, Father.”

What a downright weird story.What a peculiar psychology.

I asked for another story, one that I might find more
satisfying.Surely this religion
had more than one story in its bag—religions abound with stories.But Father Martin made me understand
that the stories that came before it—and there were many—were simply prologue
to the Christians.Their religion
had one Story, and to it they came back again and again, over and over. It was
story enough for them.

I was quiet that evening at the hotel.

That a god should put up with adversity, I could
understand.The gods of Hinduism
face their fair share of thieves, bullies, kidnappers, and usurpers.What is the Ramayana but the account of
one long, bad day for Rama? Adversity, yes.Reversals in fortune, yes. Treachery, yes. But humiliation? Death? I couldn’t imagine Lord Krishna consenting to being stripped
naked, whipped, mocked, dragged through the streets, and, to top it off,
crucified at the hands of mere humans, to boot. I’d never heard of a Hindu god
dying. Brahman Revealed did not go for death. Devils and monsters did, as did
mortals, by the thousands and millions—that’s what they were there for. Matter,
too, fell away.But divinity
should not be blighted by death. It’s wrong…

Why would God wish this upon himself? Why not leave death to
the mortals? Why make dirty what was beautiful, spoil what is perfect?

Love.That was
Father Marin’s answer.

And what about this Son’s deportment?Why did he give himself up? Hindu gods
never did that. No spindly cross would’ve kept them down.When push came to shove, they
transcended any human frame with strength no man could have and weapons no man
could handle.

That is God as God should be.With shine and power and might. Such as can rescue and save
and put down evil.

This Son, on the other hand, who goes hungry, who suffers
from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and
harassed, who has to put up with followers who don’t get it and opponents who
don’t respect Him—what kind of god is that? It’s a god on too human a scale,
that’s what. There are miracles, yes mostly of a medical nature, a few to
satisfy hungry stomachs; at best a storm is tempered, water is briefly walked
upon…any Hindu god can do a hundred times better.

This Son is a god who spent most of his time telling
stories, talking. This Son is a god
who walked, a pedestrian god—and in a hot place, at that—with a stride like any
human stride; and when he splurged on transportation, it was a regular donkey.
This Son is a god who died in three hours, with moans, gasps, and laments.What kind of god is that? What is there
to inspire in this Son?

Love, said Father Martin.

And this Son appears only once, long ago, far away? Among
some obscure tribe in a backwater strip of West Asia on in the confines of a
long-vanished empire? Is done away with before He has a single grey hair on His
head? Leaves not a single descendant, only scattered, partial testimony, His
complete works doodles in the dirt? …What can justify such divine stinginess?

Love, repeated Father Martin.

I’ll stick to my Krishna, thank you very much.I find his divinity utterly
compelling.You can keep your
sweaty, chatty Son to yourself.That was how I met that troublesome rabbi of long ago: with disbelief
and annoyance.

I had tea with Father Martin three days in a row.Each time, as teacup rattled against
saucer, as spoon tinkled against edge of cup, I asked questions.

The answer was always the same.

He bothered me, this Son.Every day I burned with greater indignation against Him,
found more flaws to Him…but I couldn’t get Him out of my head.Still can’t.I spent three solid days thinking about Him.The more He bothered me, the less I
could forget Him.And the more I
learned about Him, the less I wanted to leave Him.

On our last day, a few hours before we were to leave Munnar,
I hurried up the hill to the cathedral on more time…. short of breath I said,
“Father, I would like to be a Christian, please.”

He smiled. “You already are, Piscine—in your heart. Whoever meets Christ in good faith is a
Christian. Here in Munnar you met Christ.”

He patted me on the head.It was more of a thump, actually. I thought I would explode
with joy.

“When you come back, we’ll have tea again, my son.”

“Yes, Father.”

It was a good smile he gave me. The smile of Christ.

I entered the sanctuary, without fear this time, for it was
now my house too. I offered prayers to Christ, who is alive.

About Me

Described as a renaissance man, Mark A. Hollingsworth considers himself a citizen of the world. He has traveled to forty-nine countries as a manager of rock bands and an advocate for the poor in the developing world. He has been published in two dozen magazines ranging from Billboard to National Lampoon, and his blog has had over 50,000 readers in the past four years. Mark resides in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mark's Favorite Blogs:
http://notjusttalk.tumblr.com/